IBM Spectrum Protect Reviews

The deduplication and compression are the most valuable features.

We can get lots of storage space. Storage is a big problem. Deduplication gives me a lot more flexibility so I can do more backup in the same storage space.

I would like to see:

• More flexibility
• More features
• More scalability. I would like it to work with different storage solutions.
• There's a limitation with the cloud container. That is a limitation in terms of what it can do with the cloud.
• I would like them to increase functionality in cloud containers.
• Easier to learn: It's too complex. It takes long time to learn.

I would like more feature on Inline dedupelication.

1. Move data from one container pool to another container pool
2. Move cloud storage container to another cloud storage container
3. Currently, Inline deduplication you can copy to tape but cannot restore any data. I know it is in road map to restore from tape
4. If the Inline deduplication has a issue, You need to restore whole container pool before repair command is issue.
5. If your container pool is very large means few 30 to 40 TB. It can days to restore container pool. If you like to restore to another location, You need lots of space. That can be issue.

Stability is 50/50. They come out with fixes, but then they break some other stuff. I am constantly fighting with them to fix some new stuff. As they put out the new patches, they break something else. It's very complicated product, so they can't cover every possible scenario.

The scalability is extremely good.

I use technical support all the time. I would evaluate them depending upon who is helping me and what kind of problem is being dealt with. Sometimes it's frustrating, because I want to go to Level-2 support. Sometimes they take too long to go to Level-2. It then took them too long before they called me back. They have to improve the process to call back right away.

We knew it was time for a new solution because we were using Backup Exec before and it was not meant to be an enterprise backup solution. We were looking for some kind of enterprise backup system, and we had too many backup solutions.

We had one for ERX, one for Linux, and one for NetWare. We used NetWare and Windows, so we had to consolidate all the backup solutions into one backup solution.

We found that TSM was the best, as we can back up any OS.

I was involved in the initial setup. It was straightforward.

NetBackup was on my shortlist. Back then, they were not running on Windows and they ran on Unix. I was not a Unix guy for too long, and I wanted to feel comfortable with the OS. I came from a mainframe background. It's more flexible, and it can back up a cross-platform backup to any platform. That's a good feature, and they have it. You don't need a different backup solution and a different OS for each platform.

It depends upon the company and what they're looking for. It's an expensive product, but it works really well. You can install it on any platform. It's not a perfect product. There's always bug and there's always something going on.

When selecting a vendor, we look for support, how long they have been in business, and how often they do product upgrades.

For me, the fact that we can do inline deduplication and compression with Spectrum Protect itself, where before we had to use other products.

It simplifies our backup environment to one product. Cost is also much, much cheaper because you not only save space, because you're deduplicating and then compressing on the storage end. You are also saving on the licensing, because the license is after deduplication and compression.

Right now, we are in it for container pools and such. The ability to have an active-active, where you no longer have to go in and do modifications if your primary site goes down and your offsite needs to do the primary backups.

It takes a lot of manual work to go in and update all the records and run a bunch of scripts. I would like to see that becoming more automated and with more intelligence in Spectrum, so it can then detect what is down.

When my client comes to you to back it up, he not only comes to you for restores, but it should be able to do a backup without having to modify the state of the node registration.

There are features that it came out with, such as the directory container pools, which brought it back up to where other products we were using are currently at. Namely we were using EMC Avamar in our remote sites, because they were much more RAM friendly. Now, in the past year and a half with the directory container pools, version 7.1.3, brought TSM up to that level. I'd like to see that performance increased.

I can't comment on stability. We are only now doing testing. It was stable, but now we're rolling it out into production. We are just starting to get our feet wet in production sites.

We have it in two to three sites right now, and we're deploying it in about 10 to 15 sites. We should actually be up to almost 30 sites by the end of this year.

We haven't had any need for support. We've been working directly with our technical sales rep for any problems.

The first criterion is the product. Second, customer service is one of the top of benefits to have, especially the technical support. They need to have knowledgeable people to talk to without having to always keep restating what your problem is. It gets kind of tedious and boring. Having that more streamlined and having more access to developers and the higher-level support when needed is my top requirement.

The initial setup was straightforward. Just follow the blueprints. They are very well written and that works pretty well.

We evaluated EMC Avamar, which we were using. We were using TSM (previously TSM, now Spectrum) in our data center, but not in our remote sites. We actually moved away from them five years ago, because Avamar was better. We evaluated Veeam, CommVault, NetBackup, and others.

Do your research. Don't just look at one product. We evaluated three or four different products.

I cannot tell what is the tool's most valuable feature. It is used in a different department of my company.

The technical team's service depends on where the support service is located. Some products are not included in IBM itself, but external companies are developing some solutions for IBM. I think the support within IBM is even better than that offered for IBM Cloud Management Console by Rocket Software, so I think the support is not as good as IBM itself.

I have been using IBM Spectrum Protect for fifteen years. My company uses the tool for different departments. I am a customer of the solution.

It is a very stable solution.

It is a scalable solution.

A maximum of five people use the tool.

The solution's technical support is pretty good. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

I have not worked with any other tools apart from IBM Spectrum Protect.

A couple of years ago, I worked with IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM).

For my company, the tool is affordable and reasonable, but most people don't know that. People only see one major price for the tool, which runs into millions, so they would always say that it is an expensive tool, but it isn't, and it is a normal price for me. I saw some of the comments on PeerSpot's website. I don't think most people know that when a company has large systems in place, the TCO is a lot lower.

Speaking about how IBM Spectrum Protect has handled our enterprise-level backup and recovery needs, I would say that we are using it right now for Linux and as an archive system. We also have an IBM storage system.

I have not used IBM Spectrum Protect for disaster recovery planning. Mostly, our service as a company is to maintain and administer IBM Spectrum Protect.

I am not only familiar with the tool's deduplication technology but also with its competitor's product from Dell.

I cannot say whether the duplication technology of IBM Spectrum Protect improved our storage efficiency because we do not have it in-house.

I would not recommend the tool to others because it is a really complex product. My company has an external third-party supplier that maintains and administers the tool for us.

The tool is complex. You can't spend a lot of time administering and maintaining the system.

We only use it for archiving and some backups in our company.

I rate the tool a six to seven out of ten,

It serves a diverse range of use cases, catering primarily to enterprise users with multifaceted workloads. This encompasses the backup and recovery needs of various data types, including workloads, databases, file services, and specific applications.

Incremental backup is highly valuable as it allows for significant time and cost savings. By only backing up changed or new data, there is a reduced need for extensive storage space on the backup server. This efficiency contributes to both time and cost-effectiveness in data protection practices.

Enhancements are required for backing up our virtual environment.

I have been working with it for more than twenty years.

I would rate its stability capabilities ten out of ten. Technical instability in many cases arises from hardware or the operating system. For instance, using Spectrum Protect on a Windows platform tends to be more unstable compared to deploying it on AIX or any Linux platform.

The scalability of the system is exceptionally high, making it suitable for deployment in any enterprise environment. It can be utilized in a multi-site and multi-instance setup, with no inherent limitations. In the present project, we manage a user base of twenty-five thousand individuals and the company operates globally around the clock. I would rate it ten out of ten.

Currently, I would rate the satisfaction level at around eight out of ten. Generally, I am content because as an experienced user, I can pose pertinent questions and provide the specific information needed, ensuring effective communication with support.

Positive

I've occasionally utilized different products, such as the one formerly known as Tivoli Storage Manager. In smaller environments, I've worked with solutions like AXA for NETGEAR and some other alternatives. However, for enterprise-level environments, my primary choice has consistently been IBM Spectrum Protect.

The initial setup is straightforward for simple environments, but in the majority of cases where environments are more complex, it becomes challenging. While beginners can use it, configuring it optimally demands familiarity with the product and a comprehensive understanding of its various options. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it around seven or eight.

Deployment time can vary, it could take a day or a few days, contingent on the complexity. The process involves installing and configuring hardware, setting up the operating system, managing dependencies to Spectrum Protect, and then installing and configuring the Spectrum Protect service. The most challenging part is gathering all the necessary information for deployment, such as requirements from application teams and network details. Once you have all the needed information, the deployment becomes relatively straightforward. Around ten individuals are required for maintenance.

Without experiencing a disaster, the need for backup may not be apparent, resulting in no return on investment. However, in the event of a restore or recovery requirement, the return on investment can be as high as one hundred percent. On average, I would estimate it to be around seventy to eighty percent.

It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use. If your company doesn't fall into the enterprise category, the costs may be prohibitive. However, the expense varies based on the license model offered by IBM. For instance, if you opt for a CPU-based license model, the costs rise with each additional client. On the other hand, if you choose a license model based on the volume of backup data, the cost increase is not as significant as with the CPU-based model. I would rate it nine out of ten.

I evaluated Time Navigator and NetBackup.

Making a decision on Spectrum Protect should be a thoughtful process, considering factors such as cost, prerequisites, and alignment with your specific needs. It makes sense to carefully evaluate whether the investment aligns with your organization's priorities before deciding to purchase it. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

IBM Spectrum Protect server runs on Linux and collects the backups from the clients. Either direct clients, backup archive clients, or through a proxy in the case of VM, which is TDA.

The most valuable feature of this solution is the centralized enterprise backup.

The solution could be more user-friendly and provide better monitoring. The monitoring should be improved first since it is a higher priority.

I have been using IBM Spectrum Protect for approximately 30 years.

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

I have found IBM Spectrum Protect to be highly scalable, it can scale up to 1,000.

I was in the IBM Spectrum Protect support myself and it is high quality.

The installation could be improved, it takes a lot of effort.

The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated.

I have evaluated Veeam.

IBM Spectrum Protect is very good for high volume enterprise costs. If you are a small to medium-sized business I would choose a cheaper and more straightforward solution, such as Veeam.

I would rate IBM Spectrum Protect approximately a six out of ten for small to medium businesses but for enterprise companies, I would rate it a ten out of ten.

When combining all factors, I rate IBM Spectrum Protect an eight out of ten.

We use IBM Spectrum Protect with another product from IBM called IBM ESS. IBM ESS allows us to open up multiple screens of the backup box or the soapbox when doing backups or restores. 

The feature that I have found the most valuable is that IBM Spectrum Protect is highly integrated with IBM ESS. In addition, it allows us to back up our virtual servers directly to take VM snapshots. It runs on Linux as well.

They can include more cloud-enriching features. I would like IBM Spectrum Protect to have the functionality for backing up a VM directly in Azure. I would like to back up a VM directly in Azure without spinning up a Hyper-V cluster and backing up the virtual server. 

I have been using this solution for over five years now.

It has always been stable. We never had any issues with it.

It is definitely scalable.

Their technical support has been excellent. You always get the support that you require.

I have worked with Veeam Backup and Replication, Backup Exec, NetBackup, and Commvault. We switched because we are an IBM partner, and we preferred IBM technology.

The initial setup was quite complex. 

It was set up by IBM. We have six backup administrators. We have two backup administrators internally in our company, and we have four external backup administrators.

It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market.

I would rate IBM Spectrum Protect an eight out of ten. It is very robust, stable, and easy to administer. The backup related to the cloud is the only challenge that we have with this product. We're happy with everything else. It is a good product.

I found the restore operations feature the most valuable.

• A legacy backup (daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly) would be good, this means a backup plan (native in TSM Server) that would include the following points:

One incremental daily backup with a retention of 15 days, one full weekly backup (Sunday?) with a 5 week retention, one monthly backup (the last day of each month?) with a 13-month retention), one annual backup with a 10 year retention (every January 1st? or last day of each year?).

This backup plan would be integrated into TSM Server, and it would then suffice to associate the nodes with the start times.

• A Hardware Security Module (HSM) --

Have multiple predefined queries for HSM activity, such as migrate, recall, pre-migrate activity, and performances of these activities.

In its various forms, I have used it for over twenty years.

I did not encounter any deployment issues.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

I would give local customer service a rating of 4/10.

I would give central customer service a rating of 9/10.

I would give local technical support a rating of 4/10.

I would give central technical support a rating of 9/10.

We used NetBackup and eVault because of the stability, the possible evolutions, and the available capacities.

Setup has always been straightforward. We always start with a simple and solid installation. We then extend the functions when the base is very stable and meets our expectations.

Implementation was always performed by an internal team. The team has knowledge of configuration and local operation and is not dependent on external entities.

We think we are seeing an ROI after 24 months.

The product has always been too expensive and not very easy to negotiate.

We previously evaluated NetBackup , eVault, and ArcServe.

Follow all the documentation and do the simple things initially. Do not define complex processes. During periods of crisis, it will be necessary to be simple and fast.

We use this solution to monitor our backup tasks and to manage our backup. It also does retention on archives.

We use it for all of our backups.

It is easy to implement and restores very quickly.

It's very simple.

With the SPVE you can migrate from IBM to a different storage box. For example from IBM, you are going to Dell or NetApp. If you want to carry it over, you can.

You can do restores very quickly. You can mount a drive and restore it right from the drive.

Their plans need to be upgraded. It's a 1.0 and needs to be taken to a 1.4. Other solutions have more; Veeam for example, has 2.0, as well as Cohesity, and CommonVault.

When it comes to virtualization in IBM, it's not perfect.

We are going to switch from IBM to Veeam because Veeam is more accommodating to virtual environments. You can restore your Active Directory or your object to your group policy with Veeam.

I have been using IBM Spectrum Protect for three years.

We are using version 8.1.

It's very stable.

IBM Spectrum Protect is scalable. There are archives on the flash that goes into a queue, and when it's available, it goes into flash and retains it for seven days then into the normal storage.

We may require support or we may do it ourselves.

Technical support is good, they are responsive. Once you submit a ticket and depending on the level of priority from level one to level four, they will respond to the ticket with a day to the same day to resolve the issues.

The response time is normal. If you compare with Dell at the same priority level, it may take a day or two to get back to you.

I would rate technical support an eight out of ten.

The initial setup was straightforward. When you log in you can explore further. It will provide you with an explanation and how to do restores on the system. 

It will also let you know if you are backing up a C client or backing up a normal VM.

It's not complex. It's easy.

IMB does all of the updates.

We did no use an integrator or consultant. We completed the installation ourselves.

We are paying for support and maintenance on a monthly basis. It is approximately $124.00 USD per month for the entire company.

We are currently reviewing Veeam. After we have installed it, we will know more about it and some of the similarities.

TSM is moving to the cloud and will be much easier.

IBM Spectrum is coming out with a new version with the option of using Kubernetes, it's called IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

It's solid, it helps you protect the IDMS and helps you restore your VMware data and the types of data on your VM.

I would rate IBM Spectrum Protect a seven out of ten.